The Importance Of Voting In The 1800's

With the Presidential Election fast approaching once more, America is again reminded of the importance of the vote in our democratic society. Equal rights allows everyone to cast their vote on who should be moved into power. But it was not always like that. It is common knowledge that due to voting qualifications woman haven 't always enjoyed the luxury of participating in political affairs nor have African-Americans. However it is less known that even some adult white males were excluded from the realm of governmental affairs. During the early 1800’s, several restrictions and property qualifications eliminated many except those who were more well off. But was leaving the majority of voting to the elite’s fair? Would their influence not cause an unfair election? Only putting in those from certain political parties till the government was composed of largely one or the other? And what would happen when those restrictions fell and the ballots were flooded with the previously exempt? With all these questions was there any way to have a just election? All these questions can be answered in Richard P. McCormick’s “Suffrage Classes and Party Alignments,” Or “A Study in Voter Behavior.” …show more content…
After all if both classes were, for the most part, of the same mindset for party alignments what would be affected when they added more classes? McCormick was able to research the this using the liberalization of the suffrage that occurred in 1822 in New York. During this time several restrictions were removed so that the percentage of those eligible to vote leapt from 33 to 84 percent. However apart from the number of electorate participators increasing, not much else changed. McCormick found that despite the enlargement there was no measurable differences in party alignments. Further reinforcing the notion that suffrage classes had little or no impact on the party alignments of the